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SiliconAddict said:
You mean like how Apple is leading sales in PC's right? 🙄

You don't have to make crap hardware to lose a market.
Apple is leading the digital player field, only if they screw it up will they end up a has been.
 
JFreak said:
your phone also has an antenna built into it, which the ipod lacks 😉

Actually most mobiles use the headphones as the antenna, which apple could do as well, but i agree that a crappy radio in an ipod would just seem cheapo!
 
What about a D.A.B Radio bulit in Digital Audio Band for those of you who dont know about it i have one and the signal is pure digital and more stations to choose from mind you we have it in the UK dont know about the rest of the world....

mind you dont think id be that fussed with radios in ipods as that would mean comercials not somthing i want thankyou very much
 
Sabenth said:
What about a D.A.B Radio bulit in Digital Audio Band for those of you who dont know about it i have one and the signal is pure digital and more stations to choose from mind you we have it in the UK dont know about the rest of the world....

mind you dont think id be that fussed with radios in ipods as that would mean comercials not somthing i want thankyou very much


hey, there's this new thing called punctuation out now, you might care to give it a look. oh and also english.
 
i just bought a 3g iPod two months ago, and if this is the 4g then i don't feel too bad about missing out on much. its all a personal thing, but the different coloured wheel jarred a bit for me. and the buttons where they are are fine - they're all within the reach of my thumb, so no problem.

as for new features - i'm definitely in the *who needs video?* camp. worse still, album art - what on earth for? it sits in your pocket - you don't need to look at the art. if for no other reason than its a waste of battery life.

(but the *kids getting run over whilst watching videos* thing is a pretty lame argument - as in gameboys, or people sat at a bus stop, or on a bus - wherever.)

the feature that would be cool would have to be airtunes support. the iPod as a remote to play your entire collection wirelessly through your stereo. that has to be a killer app, surely?

and people have said why have such a big HD anyway - well, to me the whole thing with the iPod is the holy grail of walkmen in that you have your *entire* collection with you always - no faffing around selecting things.

as somebody mentioned earlier, its great for having those *guilty pleasure* tracks, that you would never own an entire cd of. someone was looking through my collection only yesterday :

*gary moore? WTF?*
*well, just the one track - *parisienne walkways*
*oh yeah - thats a good song*
*i know*

and generally listening to a far wider selection of my collection - eg older stuff - simply because its so much more accessible.

one thing that hasn't really been mentioned in this thread, is these *more efficient* menus tho'. in what way exactly? so from the first level menu we now have *music* instead of *browse* and *playlists*?

so presumably it goes :

*music* >
*artists*
*albums*
*playlists*
*etc*

so the only thing thats really changed is that *playlists* are two clicks away instead of one. which doesn't seem particularly more efficient.

i expect i'm missing something somewhere tho'?

Iain
 
shidoshi said:
First, Jalexster has been very mature and intelligent in his iPod criticism. Why is he not allowed to say what he doesn't like about the iPod, or why? Some of you are so pathetic in the way you're jumping on his for what he's saying, like he's making fun of your child or something. The only way products improve is by criticizing their faults. Every product - including the iPod - has faults. If somebody respects the iPod as a product, but doesn't like certain aspects of it, they should have every right to speak out about their concerns. I love my iPod, but there are absolutely things that need to be improved about it. It isn't perfect, and you people who are so scared about others saying bad things about it really need to get a life.

Now, for the people who call ideas like video on the iPod "stupid" - if you don't want it, or like the idea, great, but stop talking like you speak for everybody. You don't. Some of us would be interested in the idea. Some of us would be perfectly happy to watch video on the iPod's screen. Obviously it isn't as nice as watching something on TV, in a movie theater, whatever. Still, it would be a nice addition option of time-wasting material for those times that you need to waste some time. If YOU don't like it, YOU don't have to ask for it. If it was a case of ONLY having a full-colored screen video iPod, and people wouldn't have a choice, then you'd have the right to bitch. Until that day, shut up.

And please, God, stop with the pathetic "you'll be watching the screen and walk into something haha!" crap. So are you saying that we shouldn't have things like the GameBoy for the same reasons? People who bring up that example are the people who would be stupid enough to try to watch video while walking around. The rest of us, however, have enough of a brain not to do that. Not everybody lives in America where you ride around in your car all day long. Some people ride mass-transit to work. Some people fly on airplanes a lot. Some people spend a lot of time out of their house away from their computers, and end up finding themselves in situations where they have time that could be spent enjoying video or whatnot. If you want to argue against video on the iPod, think of REAL reasons it would be a bad idea, not moronic excuses.

First of all the critisms of the ipod made by the mentioned users are in fact incorrect. The sound qulity is great on the ipod and they use a much better companent for that than iriver. It is good to criterse but only when they are valid points such as price

Next, Reason against a video ipod

  1. Price, The cost of making such a product would mean it will ve dam expensive
  2. 2. Video is not for on the move, If you at home you have the tv when your out the chances of watching a video are low and with such a small screen is not worth it
  3. 3. Really crap battery life and stoarge drain
 
Look people, and I apologise because this has probably already been said if anybody else on this forums has an ounce of common sense (i'm not gonna read 14 pages of posts saying "ooh its really cool i want one"). This story was not leaked to newsweek, Jobs himself was interviewed and he had 4g iPod in his hand, how can he pissed off, it was his own doing?
 
adt said:
hey, there's this new thing called punctuation out now, you might care to give it a look. oh and also english.

Is it really worth singling out this one post for its lack of punctuation? What has that achieved?
 
shidoshi said:
First, Jalexster has been very mature and intelligent in his iPod criticism.

[...]

Now, for the people who call ideas like video on the iPod "stupid" - if you don't want it, or like the idea, great, but stop talking like you speak for everybody. You don't. Some of us would be interested in the idea. Some of us would be perfectly happy to watch video on the iPod's screen. Obviously it isn't as nice as watching something on TV, in a movie theater, whatever. Still, it would be a nice addition option of time-wasting material for those times that you need to waste some time. If YOU don't like it, YOU don't have to ask for it. If it was a case of ONLY having a full-colored screen video iPod, and people wouldn't have a choice, then you'd have the right to bitch. Until that day, shut up.

And please, God, stop with the pathetic "you'll be watching the screen and walk into something haha!" crap. So are you saying that we shouldn't have things like the GameBoy for the same reasons? People who bring up that example are the people who would be stupid enough to try to watch video while walking around. The rest of us, however, have enough of a brain not to do that. Not everybody lives in America where you ride around in your car all day long. Some people ride mass-transit to work. Some people fly on airplanes a lot. Some people spend a lot of time out of their house away from their computers, and end up finding themselves in situations where they have time that could be spent enjoying video or whatnot. If you want to argue against video on the iPod, think of REAL reasons it would be a bad idea, not moronic excuses.


The point is that listening to music is a background activity, whereas watching a movie is a foreground activity. Sorry if I annoyed you, but equally, some people who don't get this distinction are annoying (to me). C'est tout (to keep with the Canadian theme going on... ;-). Of course there are legitimate situations and reasons for wanting a video iPod. To me, the analysis goes like this:
• count the situations where it is perfectly ok and desirable to listen to music, then
• do the same for when watching a movie is ok and desirable
In my guestimate this relation will be about 20:1 or 50:1. Just a guess. Maybe your answer differs. Then let's talk about it.

By the way, I wouldn't say than wanting a video iPod was stupid. But I do argue that it is probably not worth it for Apple to make one. It hardly adds to the appeal of the iPod (in terms of benefits in usage - c.f. the fractions I gave), but I guess it would add a great deal of engineering efforts, which have to be payed for in the end. Then I have to admit that I don't know how high these costs would be. Maybe it is in fact very easy and cheap to add a avi / mpg decoder. Maybe adding a high quality colour screen doesn't increase the cost very much and has only little impact on battery life. Then the additional costs would be marginal. Does someone here know ? Insightful input welcome ;-)!

I can actually think of a few more arguments, why Apple won't add video. Simplicity of the device, foremost. One appeal of the iPod is that won't ever keep you from doing something more important. It's your companion, not your boss.
 
just my 2 cents, short and sweet

i own a 3g. i think the new 4g looks fantastic. if a 60gb comes out i might sell my 20gb to my brother and upgrade... although despite preferring the way the click wheel looks, i'm so used to the 3g buttons (for weeks i would keep hitting the next track button instead of play/pause - until one day... it just seemed instictive 😀 ) that i wonder if i might miss them.

but anyway, i digress, they look damn sweet and i'm keen to see where the uk prices are at.
 
Trekkie said:
Let's see, decent battery life and a DRM ladened encoding method with crappy encoding rates (128kbps max) or reasonable battery life, the worlds best online music store, and oh yeah, it's Apple.

How long a battery life do you want? I've found the 10 hrs I get out of my Gen 2 iPod to be plenty for a cross country flight


SeaFox said:
Uh, yeah. You should like not post about technology you know nothing about. You just embarrass yourself. Not only is 128 not the maximum bitrate for Minidisc, there is no 128 bitrate.

The bitrates are
ATRAC (original): 292kbs
ATRAC3: 132kbs (LP2), 66 kbs (LP4)
ATRAC3+: 256kbs (Hi-SP) 64kbs (Hi-LP), 48kbs

LP2 (132kbs) is used for Sony's connect music store.

As for battery life, I average 24 hrs with good sound quality and frequent track changes. But the original poster was using last years NetMD's for his comparison, which really shouldn't be used. Using figures for Hi-MD makes the battery life comparison much more even. Another 6 hrs or so of battery life and I may be looking at a new iPod.

Actually, I was not referring to NetMD but to pre-NetMD MiniDisc, which I currently own.
Therefore, Trekkie, comments about quality compression whatsoever are irrelevant. I record directly from a CD-player's digital output, and my MiniDisc recordings sound excellent.
I know, using that you can't have all your music library with you, as with an iPod. That is indeed the reason I am seriously considering buying an iPod. I can't help but be disappointed, however, with how problematic this 'battery issue' is with the iPod. With my MiniDisc, I use a small thin replacable NiMH battery (at $ 15), which I can easily charge and take a spare with me. Additionally, I can attach a small single AA-battery in an external casing, to add another dozen or more hours of music playback.
You're right when you say that most of the times 12h must be enough for your trips. Nevertheless, I do not see the fun in having to add another routine to my life, which is having to unload bags, charge iPod every evening. Moreover, what if you're trekking, or whatever, and not near power charge opportunities?
I find it also hard to understand why Sony IS able to make a HDD-portable player (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/01/sony_hd_walkman/), with replacable battery and 20h playback time, and Apple isn't. Maybe it's due to Sony's better credentials as audio manufacturer. However, they insist on using their own ATRAC-encoding, which makes it less interesting.
Those are just considerations I take in mind. It's not peanuts what Apple charges us with, and I do not intend to buy a new player every year.
 
Allon said:
I know, using that you can't have all your music library with you, as with an iPod. That is indeed the reason I am seriously considering buying an iPod. I can't help but be disappointed, however, with how problematic this 'battery issue' is with the iPod. With my MiniDisc, I use a small thin replacable NiMH battery (at $ 15), which I can easily charge and take a spare with me. Additionally, I can attach a small single AA-battery in an external casing, to add another dozen or more hours of music playback.
You're right when you say that most of the times 12h must be enough for your trips. Nevertheless, I do not see the fun in having to add another routine to my life, which is having to unload bags, charge iPod every evening. Moreover, what if you're trekking, or whatever, and not near power charge opportunities?

Going trekking is a valid argument. But I don't see why it should be more of a chore to recharge the iPod (which is dead easy - plop in dock), when you are willing to recharge your NiMHs. I actually prefer it the iPod way. I find it more of a hassle the way rechargeable batteries are used: take out of gadget, find recharger, plug in, put batteries in recharger. Next day, do the reverse. This is what I have to do for the digital camera. Compare with iPod: take out of pocket, place in dock. Done.

Maybe a superior way is how some digital cameras have docks, but retain removable batteries. So you can take a kilo of them on your long treks through the savannah, if needs be, or just buy more AAAs if you hit civilisation. Presto.
 
svenas1 said:
The point is that listening to music is a background activity, whereas watching a movie is a foreground activity. Sorry if I annoyed you, but equally, some people who don't get this distinction are annoying (to me). C'est tout (to keep with the Canadian theme going on... ;-). Of course there are legitimate situations and reasons for wanting a video iPod. To me, the analysis goes like this:
• count the situations where it is perfectly ok and desirable to listen to music, then
• do the same for when watching a movie is ok and desirable
In my guestimate this relation will be about 20:1 or 50:1. Just a guess. Maybe your answer differs. Then let's talk about it.

By the way, I wouldn't say than wanting a video iPod was stupid. But I do argue that it is probably not worth it for Apple to make one. It hardly adds to the appeal of the iPod (in terms of benefits in usage - c.f. the fractions I gave), but I guess it would add a great deal of engineering efforts, which have to be payed for in the end. Then I have to admit that I don't know how high these costs would be. Maybe it is in fact very easy and cheap to add a avi / mpg decoder. Maybe adding a high quality colour screen doesn't increase the cost very much and has only little impact on battery life. Then the additional costs would be marginal. Does someone here know ? Insightful input welcome ;-)!

I can actually think of a few more arguments, why Apple won't add video. Simplicity of the device, foremost. One appeal of the iPod is that won't ever keep you from doing something more important. It's your companion, not your boss.


Don't think of it as a "video" pod.

Think of it as a "freedom" pod. Very American... like freedom fires...

The point is that people just want freedom.

You say that music is better for people on the go.. I agree... but what about when you are on the bus? why not watch an old Seinfeld episode? Or how about a videotaped lecture from one of you classes? or how about an Apple keynote?

Or maybe you don't want to watch a video.. you just want to look at some pictures. Or show someone some pictures.

It is all about freedom.

I just remember I heard this same kind of nonsense how it was ridiculous to think the G5 should be watercooled. People would say that was pure lunacy too.

An Apple video pod is coming... whether you or even Steve Jobs wants it... it is just a matter of when.
 
Allon: You refer to the external battery casing for your MD player which allows you to pop in additional AA batteries. Perhaps you didn't realize that there is such a gadget for the iPod called the Belkin Battery Pack. And since you're taking it on trekking, you don't need to worry about the extra few grams you have to carry along.



irmongoose
 
JFreak said:
not yet, at least. wouldn't it be a tuesday's event to release new ipods?
Well, yes - that's what I was thinking, but rumors say monday and now with the UK store being down...
 
nope, it'll be today, us store is usually half an hour later than european stores.

Apple benelux confirmed that iPods were coming today, and that an announcement would follow later this afternoon.

source : http://www.tweakers.net (dutch site)
 
the US store has already been down earlyer. SOmetime they are down then come back up but the product is released later.

The UK store was down when the minis where released but didnt appear in the sotre for another few hours
 
ipod4g.jpg
 
ArticulatedArm said:
Don't think of it as a "video" pod.

Think of it as a "freedom" pod. Very American... like freedom fires...

The point is that people just want freedom.

You say that music is better for people on the go.. I agree... but what about when you are on the bus? why not watch an old Seinfeld episode? Or how about a videotaped lecture from one of you classes? or how about an Apple keynote?

Or maybe you don't want to watch a video.. you just want to look at some pictures. Or show someone some pictures.

It is all about freedom.

I just remember I heard this same kind of nonsense how it was ridiculous to think the G5 should be watercooled. People would say that was pure lunacy too.

An Apple video pod is coming... whether you or even Steve Jobs wants it... it is just a matter of when.
Freedom? Yeah, freedom for everyone to have to pay alot more for a feature I and most others would never use (except for the occassional, hey, look what I can do!). Sure, I would take a video iPod if it came out for $300 and had 12hrs battery life... but that isn't really possible right now is it? I think the iPod would loose it's appeal for me (and many other people) if they added video. I want a music player, not an overpriced player with some novelty features.
 
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